LATEST CABLES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1285, 15 October 1896, Page 19

LATEST CABLES.

London, October 12. /A football team was struck by lightning *it Liverpool. One was killed and five injured. Lady Scott and others have been committed for trial for libelling Earl Russell. This action appears to be a co atinuation of the defence of Earl Russell against a cruel conspiracy and persecution which has been going on for some time. It has been written that “ Hell b*th no fury like a woman scorned.” _ , , ... Capetown, October 1.3. Hundreds of Matabele are yielding to the British, and are being supplied with seed to cultivate their country. Many of the more powerful chiefs report that the surrender of Matabele will .soon be general. St. Petersburg, October 12. A gunboat laden with mines and material of war is lying at Sebastopol ready to start for the Bosphoius if England acts against Turkey alone. Sofia, October 12. The trial of Stambouloff’s murderers begins on. Thursday. There are 730 witnesses. New York, October 13. Archbishop Ireland, of Minnesota, denounces Mr Bryan’s programme as inimical ito social order, and likely to lead to iß»D3<rcliy» jVTr Smalley, the well-known journalist, &nd correspondent of the London Times, declares that Mr McKinley is certain to carry the Eastern, middle and Western States, and that the sound currency views expressed by him are spreading to the Ear 'YV Pretoria, October 13. Six thousand natives engaged in the mines in the R&nd have struck for an .increase of wages.

Thdre is a tendency to violence, and the police are protecting the workers. The troops, too, are in readiness to suppress any outbreak. Melbourne, October 13. The report on 12 country railways shows a less for the year ended June of £41,500. Only four lines covered working - expenses, while one meets the interest on the capital expended in its construction. Tho total profit over working cost was ,£25,500, but the interest charges amount to .£66,900. The Glon-Innes line expenses and interest annually total <£9SOO more than it earns, and the Lancefield-Kilmore line earns £l5O against an expenditure of .£5700. It is intended to close some of the non-pay-ing lines, and other cases ai’e being considered, as well as the substitution of horses for steam traction on some lines. Sydney, October 13. In the case of Norton, charged with sedition, the jury disagreed, and accused was remanded on bail. This was the case in which a gross libel on Her Majesty the Queen was published in Sydney Truth. It was intensely hot in the city to-day, and the thermometer registered 92.Vdeg in the shade. There is a cool southerly breeze to-night and rain is threatening. In the Southern and Western districts there has been a pleasant change, the weather being cool, while light rains, which have extended also to the interior, have falien. Brisbane, October 13. In the Legislative Council the Hon Mr Thynne moved that consideration be given to the message from the Legislative Assembly respecting the Federal Bill. An amendment was moved by Mr Gregory that the message be considered six months hence. The amendment was defeated by 15 to 14, and the Council then postponed any further discussion.

THE POSITION IN TURKEY.

Constantinople, October 12. The Embassies have refused to admit the claim of the Porte to search foreign steamers for Armenian refugees. The attitude of the Turks is terrifying the Armenians in Broussa, where there are some 12,000 living. Rome, October 12. Italy has demanded redress for tho murder of Italians in the recent massacres at Constantinople.

HOW THE ARMENIAN OU TBRFJAK COMMENCED IN CONSTANTINOPLE. We take the following extracts from the full reports telegraphed to the London Daily Chronicle, which give a correct statement of all the horrors in connection with the illadvised Armenian outbreak : INSENSATE CONDUCT OF THE ARMENIANS. On the afternoon of August 2G, some forty desperate men, Armenians, suddenly seized possession of the Ottoman Bank. Killing the gendarmes who were on guard and the porters at the entrance, they closed and barred the doors of the bank, and then rushed into the main hall of the establishment, where they threw some bombs, which exploded with a terrific uproar, though without hurting anybody. A scene of utmost perturbation and confusion ensued. There was a general sciuve qui pout of all the employees, who, terror-stricken by the flash and noise of the explosions, sought every imaginable means of escape. Many of them got away, but two directors and about a hundred clerks found themselves shut up with the invaders, who quickly closed all means of ingress and egress. Sir Edgar Vincent and other directors were able to escape by the ro/f. The whole thing happened in a few minutes. During this seizure of the bank, extraordinary scenes wero being enacted in the stroets. Police, reinforced by tioops, were hurried up, and began a sharp fusillade upon the windows of the bank, aiming at anyone who showed himself for an instant. In this way some of the employees of the bank, who were trying to escape by the windows, were killed. Meanwhile the revolutionaries wero acting. A party of them, making their way to the roof, hurled down bombs at the troops each time they approached the entrance door, while shots were fired from some neighbouring houses. THEN CAME THE HOUR OF REPRISALS. Auiid the crowd in the streets, which had quickly collected, were seen detachments of Mussulmans, Kurds and Lazis, all armed with bludgeons, iron stave' or wooilen clubs, and acting, apparently, under the direction of men in turbans, who were evidently Softas. These gangs chiefly sought out Armenians, but after they struck down passers-by indiscriminately. A number of Armenians were killed by these fellows, and all kinds of acts of ferocity were committed. The Mussulman mob invaded a cafe frequented by Armenians, near the Galula Custom House, and threw the Armenians who happened to be in tho place out of the windows. The street between Dolma Lagtohe and l'ophaneh resembled a fi -Id of battle, J about 50 bodies being counted there. i THE MASSACRE CONTINUED. I During the night of the 27th, and virtually ! throughout the 2Stli, Constantinoplj was : given over to the Mussulman populace, who ! murdered Armenians and pillaged their housos without hindrance from the troops and police, who saw all that was going on arid did nothing. As to what was done with the dead no one can say ; but it is said that many were thrown into tho sea. | FOREIGN RESIDENTS ALARMED. The alarm among the foreign residents was great, but the Ambassadors did their utmost to allay the uneasiness. Soeingat length that the disorders continued unchecked up to late in the afternoon, the British Chargij d’Affaires decided to land marines from the Dryad to g-uard the Embassy and other buildings. The guardships of the other Powers at tho same time landed men for the like purpose. The Sultan, on hearing of these measures, begged Mr Herbert to withdraw the men, but he declined to do so while the disorders continued. THE AUTHORS OF THE TROUBLE. With regard to the prime authors of the whole trouble, of the 25 Armenian Revolutionaries wlio attacked the Ottoman Bank, five wero killed and five more were wounded in the bank. They had all come to Constantinople from abroad, and two are Russian gubjeotg, A LLOOPY RECORD. Fyery day fresh and terrible details of the

massacres were available, swelling the number of victims to 5000. The excesses committed in the Kassim Pasha and Haskeui quarters were horrible, scarcely a single male Armenian escaping the fury of the mob. In the first-named quarter 45 women and children, who had sought refuge on the flat roof of a house, were discovered, and all ruthlessly put to death, their bodies being subsequently thi’own into the street The Psamatia quarter has also suffered severely, the destruction of Armenian property there being enormous. ORGANISED MASSACRE. A regular system of extermination has been inaugurated by the Sultan, and as a proof of this (says another writer) I may mention that some weeks ago agents of the Turkish Government were openly distributing to the Turkish population at Adana powder and ammunition and exhorting them to prepare for massacring the Armenians. This polic.y of massacre and extermination which has been carried on by the Sultan and his Government for nearly two years is allowed to continue owing to the inaction and indifference of the Great Powers. The Sultan, thus encouraged, pursues his policy in the hope of ridding himself of all responsibility in respect to the Armenians, to whom he has decided not to grant autonomy. TESTIMONY OF ANOTHER EYE-WITNESS. The streets all round our offices are stained even now with pools of blood every few yards, and present a horrible sight. The bridge is still marked from end to end with the blood which dripped from the numerous carts containing dead bodies which passed over it. Going to town we passed a lighter full of sacks containing dead bodies, which wore being thrown into the sea, and this afternoon corpses were floating past our Rouse. The lowest estimate of the 24 hours’ slaughter is 4000, and I am told on good authority that the real figure is far in excess of this. 1 think there can be no doubt that the number is under-estimated, for in one hour more than 50 carts, heaped up with dead bodies, passed our office alone. The rattle of the shots was almost continuous during these 24 hours, and every now and then when a bomb exploded there was a much louder detonation. Numbers of bombs were thrown, showing that the conspiracy was widespread.

A LETTER FROM A YOUNG ENGLISHMAN. A portion of a letter from a young Englishman to his father says : Don’t believe any rumours that the Sultan is ill or a drunkard. He is a cynical, cruel fanatic, and very suspicious ; but quite free from the taint of intemperance and debauchery associated with tho name of “ unspeakable.” One thing he has made up his mind about, and that is the extermination of all Armenian males, and the drafting into Turkish and Kurdish harems of all Armenian women. I have this item of news from a Turk who is au fait with all the chit-chat at Yildiz Kiosk. Please send me all newspapers you can addressed to the French post office. It is useless sending them to the British post office. I cannot relate a hundredth part of the stories which are in everyone’s mouth. The worst slaughter was in front of Djelal Bey Khan. Estimates of death are given as high as 5000, nearly all Armenians ; a few Greeks were killed “by mistake.” A GHASTLY SPECTACLE. It is a frightful spectacle to day. The streets are like shambles, bodies taken away in waggons dripping with blood on the way to the cemeteries, leaving the road marked with the trail of death Crossing Galata Bridge yesterday evening, I saw dried-up pools of blood, showing where the poor creatures had been hacked to pieces and bled to death of their wounds. Mr Herbert landed some blue-jackets, but not nearly enough. We want the fleet hero. I wonder whether the British Government will face tho situation We blush with shame for being Englishmen, and feel humiliated and dishonoured.